Archive for January 31st, 2013

Riding the apocalypse

Canberra Times: Afew years ago, I took part in a panel discussion on the future as part of the Brisbane Festival of Ideas. My two co-panellists quickly declared their optimism (although both were fully across the challenges). I'd decided that morning to ''come out'' and admit I was a pessimist. ''Pessimist'' was a pejorative term, I said, but pessimists had the consolation of being right. I realised more than five years ago, with the evidence of the growing effects of global warming, that we'd left it too late;...

India to meet domestic mitigation goal of reducing emissions by 2020: PM

Asian News International: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Thursday said India is committed to meeting its domestic mitigation goal of reducing the emissions intensity of our GDP by 20-25 percent by 2020. Addressing at the Inaugural Session of Delhi Sustainable Development Summit here, Dr. Singh said: "Our country is committed to meeting its domestic mitigation goal of reducing the emissions intensity of our GDP by 20-25 percent by year 2020 compared with 2005 levels. We have already taken several major steps on the...

Chinese protesters plead guilty after water pollution riot in Qidong

Associated Press: Fourteen people have pleaded guilty to encouraging a riot in eastern China last year in which scores of police were hurt and the local Communist party chief was stripped half-naked in a mass protest that ultimately forced the scrapping of a wastewater treatment project. The official Xinhua news agency said the defendants were prosecuted on charges of encouraging mass violence against government buildings and intentionally damaging property in Qidong city in Jiangsu province, north of Shanghai....

Shell Case Shows Failure of Nigerian Judiciary

Inter Press Service: The decision by The Hague over Shell's liability for polluting in the Niger Delta shows that justice is possible - but it is extremely hard to achieve if you are taking on a massive multinational, says Amnesty International's Africa programme director Audrey Gaughran. While The Hague dismissed most of the landmark case brought by the four Nigerian farmers and environmental pressure group, Friends of the Earth, against a subsidiary of international oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, the judges ordered...

India’s Prime Minister Asks Developed Nations to Use Less Energy and Water

New York Times: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday called on developed nations to strive for gains in energy efficiency and to reduce their environmental impact to help protect the world’s poor from a growing paucity of electricity and water. “There are genuine concerns that in an unequal world, scarcity of resources would affect the poor more adversely,” Mr. Singh said at the inaugural session of the three-day Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, an annual international conference. “Key resources will...